I am looking for a cam and am curious as to how to read a grind/part number at the end of the cam...

How to read...

Lunati...

Comp...

Crane...

What is the part number?
What is the grind number?

__________________
If youíre incompetent, you canít know youíre incompetent. [Ö] the skills you need to produce a right answer are exactly the skills you need to recognize what a right answer is.
óDavid Dunning

I am busy schooling myself on what the numbers mean and how you get intensities etc...

224/234
.525/.550

but whats the 114CL mean?

Still readin...

__________________
If youíre incompetent, you canít know youíre incompetent. [Ö] the skills you need to produce a right answer are exactly the skills you need to recognize what a right answer is.
óDavid Dunning

The grind number gives you the basic cam info. Like the Crane 274HO6-tells you the adv. duration is 274 degrees, H is for hydraulic, an 06 tells you the lobe separation angle of 106. Part number is 100172 which really tells you nothing. The cam companies all have their own "grind numbers". Some actually give you some cam data, others do not make too much sense. Some of Isky's grinds are somewhat informative like the 280 Mega Hydraulic tells you it has 280 degrees of duration but that is about it. An Isky RPM 300 cam does not really tell you too much and usually this cam is 270 duration, 228 @ .050 duration, on a 108 LSA. You really need to look at the cam card to find all the specs on the cam and sometimes what is stamped on the end of the cam may not give you too much info. I once had a Melling cam I ordered for a Pontiac motor but when I looked at the end stamping it cross referenced to a big block chevy cam. I called Melling and they said to send it back for them to check it out. It was a Pontiac cam but he said sometimes the stamp numbers may not give you the right info!!

I am going to pick a cam and call someone at the company and see what info I can find out that way...

Does anyone have a good website for reading about camshafts???

I understand what each section of the lobe does and how it works in conjunction with the carnk via the timing gears...just need to figure out how the numbers work now...

__________________
If youíre incompetent, you canít know youíre incompetent. [Ö] the skills you need to produce a right answer are exactly the skills you need to recognize what a right answer is.
óDavid Dunning

The 224 means the duration at .050 on the intake, 234 is the .050 dur. on the exhaust, .525 and .550 are the intake and exhaust valve lifts. The 114CL could mean either the intake center line of the cam lobe is installed 114 deg. after top center or more likely it is refering to the lobe serparation angle which is the angle between the maximum lift point( or center) of the intake lobe and the max. lift point on the exhaust lobe. A wide LSA like 114 usually gives a broad power range, smoother idle, and increased high rpm power. A tight or lower LSA usually like 106-110 will usually give better low and midrange power but is more "peaky" and comes on with more of a bang but the higher rpm power falls off more quickly. A tight LSA cam usually has a rougher idle due to increased overlap( given the same cam specs except for the LSA change) and does not make as much vacuum as the wider LSA cam. Intensity if found by subtracting the .050 duration from the advertised duration. A 270 adv. duration with a 220 .050 duration would have a hydraulic intensity of 50. Another modern fast lobe cam might have an adv. duration of 270 but an .050 duration of 230 or have a 40 intensity. The lower the intensity number the quicker the valves open and close as I understand it. Am sure there is a lot more to it than that but gives you some idea.

__________________
If youíre incompetent, you canít know youíre incompetent. [Ö] the skills you need to produce a right answer are exactly the skills you need to recognize what a right answer is.
óDavid Dunning

A very good book on cams is the one by David Vizard, one of the best SBC authors. The book is Chevrolet Small-Block V-8 Camshafts and Valvetrains. This is a Powerpro Series book and is available through amazon for around $20. Very informative book on cams.

Hello,
If you go to the Comp. Cams website they have a program there that you can enter all your vehicle info into ie.. weight,gear ratio,compression of motor,and so on. By using this program they will show you the best cam grind for your application. Its worth a try to do this to get a good idea of whats availible for your set up, Just my suggestion,good luck

high performance camshafts and valvetrain by SA designs/Cartech books..
i bought mine at borders in whitehall... about 18 bucks.
pick one up. very good book, helps you choose the right one, gets down to the math involved in designing and explains everything you need to know about a cam.

__________________
If youíre incompetent, you canít know youíre incompetent. [Ö] the skills you need to produce a right answer are exactly the skills you need to recognize what a right answer is.
óDavid Dunning

Hello,
If you go to the Comp. Cams website they have a program there that you can enter all your vehicle info into ie.. weight,gear ratio,compression of motor,and so on. By using this program they will show you the best cam grind for your application. Its worth a try to do this to get a good idea of whats availible for your set up, Just my suggestion,good luck

I downloaded that program, it's called camquest it's a very helpful program because it gives you choices for just about everything, such as carb or FI and forced induction head style what kind of idle you want and slot of other stuff. I thought it was quite helpful. The best part is that it's free

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